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Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to attend the National Volunteer Week kickoff in DC with special guest, Gabrielle Union! This amazing and very motivating event was hosted by the Point of Light Institute and was a program not only honoring and celebrating active volunteers, some of those being the dreamy Reed Doughty and Lorenzo Alexander of the Washington Football Team, but it also kicked off Bounty’s “Make a Clean Difference” Program, presented by the beautiful and socially active, Gabrielle Union.

I got to catch up with some of the foundations, winners, and volunteers on the red carpet, a very humbling experience! Some of those foundations included Newman’s Own, Paul Newman’s foundation, which has raised over $28 million in the past year from the profits of their product (Newman’s Salad Dressing). Go figure!

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I also got to chat it up with Gabrielle Union, who was speaking on behalf of Proctor & Gamble’s Bounty Program, a program that promotes the cleanliness in public schools in the US, while also promoting the artistic creativity (Can we say finger-painting!?), a mess that Bounty Quicker Picker Upper can easily take care of!

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Gabrielle seemed super excited about the event and to be speaking on behalf of Bounty’s new program, which will visit and clean 30 schools in 10 cities over the next few months. The official kickoff of the “Make a Clean Difference” will be May 4th in New York, with celebrity guest and advocate for the program, Mary J. Blige, and Russell Simmons, the big man himself.

“We kind of forget where we came from, the public school system. A lot of us were fortunate enough to have clean schools with attentive teachers, but we’re kind of talking about the hardest hit, where basic hygiene is not being handled,” said Gabby. “I’ve volunteered strictly for impoverished schools in the past, and I’m just trying to shine a brighter light on what some of us are doing. To lend a helping and hand and let people know that it’s not that difficult. Just a few hours a month makes a big difference!”

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Feeling a little guilty about my lack of participation but incredibly motivated to volunteer by all these award winners and active celebrities, Gabrielle gave me advice on just how to get involved.

“A lot of people think that you have to sign up to volunteer, but it could be being a mentor, picking up trash on your block. That counts. You don’t need an official sign up to give a damn!”

Word, sista.

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Redskins’ players, Lorenzo Alexander, who owns his own foundation, the ACES Foundation, as well as Reed Doughty, official honorary chairman of the National Kidney Foundation Walk in Prince George’s county, agreed with Gabrielle.

“People tend to wait, but just get out there and find anything that interests you or is close to your heart. Whatever impacts you and your family life, Google it, sign up and help,” encouraged Lorenzo, who with his foundation “ACES”, promotes education and raises money and hosts several activities for underprivileged students both in the DMV